An all-terrain vehicle refers to a vehicle capable of running on any terrains and running freely on a terrain where an ordinary vehicle is difficulty driven. The all-terrain vehicle is commonly known as an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) in China. The all-terrain vehicle has a structure which is very similar to a motorcycle, and many components thereof can be used interchangeably with those of a motorcycle, thus the all-terrain vehicle is also called as quad bike. Such kind of vehicle has a variety of uses, and is not restricted by road conditions, thus is widely used in North America and Western Europe, and the used range shows an increasing trend year by year.
Reference is made to FIG. 1, which is a schematic view showing the structure of an axle of an all-terrain vehicle in the conventional technology.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the conventional technology, the axle of the all-terrain vehicle in the conventional technology includes a left half-axle 101 and a right half-axle 102, and the axle is not provided with any differential. Thus, the force outputted from the engine to the half-axles is distributed evenly to the half-axles at the two sides, to allow a left wheel and a right wheel respectively connected to the left half-axle 101 and the right half-axle 102 to travel at the same speed.
When the all-terrain vehicle turns a corner, a running distance of a wheel at the outer side is longer than a running distance of a wheel at the inner side; or when the all-terrain vehicle runs in a straight line on an uneven road, lengths of running curves of the wheels at the two sides are also different; or even if the road is very flat and straight, due to the size error of tires in manufacturing, different degrees of wear, different loads, or different inflation pressures of the tires, rolling radii of the tires are virtually impossible to be completely equal, and if the speeds of the wheels at the two sides are equal, the phenomenon that the wheel slips while rolling would inevitably occur, i.e., the tire at one side slips with respect to the tire at another side, which accelerates tire wear, and reduces the transmission efficiency.
In view of this, it is urgent to optimize the design of the axle of the all-terrain vehicle in the conventional technology to allow the half-axles at the two sides to rotate at different speeds when the axle of the all-terrain vehicle transmits power to the half-axles at the two sides, and prevent a wheel at one side from slipping.